The concept of “solo unicorns,” or one-person companies worth over $1 billion, has been gaining traction in the startup world, thanks in part to the productivity-boosting potential of artificial intelligence. While this notion may seem like a myth, a recent development has provided compelling evidence that it might not be entirely impossible.

Maor Shlomo, an Israeli developer, has demonstrated that a solo entrepreneur can achieve remarkable success with the help of AI. On Wednesday, Shlomo sold his six-month-old, bootstrapped startup Base44 to Wix for $80 million, as announced by Wix. The deal was an all-cash transaction, according to Wix’s confirmation to TechCrunch.

Although the sale price fell short of the billion-dollar mark, and Shlomo wasn’t entirely solo, having eight employees, the rapid growth and impressive sale of Base44 have generated significant buzz within the vibe-coding community. The eight employees will collectively receive a $25 million retention bonus, with the details of the deal, such as the payout schedule, remaining undisclosed.

During its six months as an independent company, Base44 reportedly amassed 250,000 users, with 10,000 users joining within the first three weeks. According to Shlomo’s posts on X and LinkedIn, the company was profitable, generating $189,000 in profit in May, despite covering high LLM token costs, which he publicly documented.

Base44’s growth can be attributed, in part, to word-of-mouth, as Shlomo shared his building journey on LinkedIn and Twitter. The project began as a side venture, and its launch was met with excitement, with Shlomo explaining on LinkedIn that “Base44 is a moonshot experiment — helping everyone, technical or not, build software without coding at all.”

As a vibe-coding product, Base44 allows users to enter text prompts and generates complete applications, including database, storage, authentication, analytics, and integration. The platform also supports email, texting, and maps, with plans for more enterprise-grade security features.

While Base44 isn’t unique in the vibe-coding space, with other companies like Adaptive Computer offering similar infrastructure work, its rapid rise has been impressive nonetheless. Shlomo’s prior experience as the founder of Explorium, a data analytics company backed by Insight Partners, and his connections within the Israeli startup community, likely contributed to Base44’s success.

Shlomo had secured partnership agreements with major Israeli tech companies, such as eToro and Similarweb, and had gained attention from Amazon, which invited Base44 to demo at a Tel Aviv AWS event last month. After announcing his decision to use Anthropic’s Claude LLM through AWS, instead of OpenAI’s models, due to cost-per-performance reasons, Shlomo documented the experience on LinkedIn.

Upon announcing the acquisition, Shlomo reflected on the journey, stating, “Crazy f***ing journey so far.” He explained that he sold Base44, despite its growth and profits, because the scale and volume required to take the company to the next level couldn’t be achieved organically. With Wix’s resources, Shlomo is excited to see the new pace of growth.

The acquisition is a strategic move for Wix, which offers no-code website building with professionally designed results. Adding a profitable LLM vibe-coding product to its offerings is a logical step, especially considering the relatively modest price of $80 million, compared to OpenAI’s $3 billion purchase of Windsurf.

Shlomo was unavailable for additional comment at the time of writing.